Quit Your Waning (Over the Moon #3)

SIZZLE

I wore a divot into the packed earth outside of the home towers by mid-morning, pacing in a tight line like a beast in a cage. Jihae hadn’t arrived with most of the other humans to decorate, and when I’d braved the crowds to find her, her scent had been absent.

It had been a sour reminder of what visiting the big stations and cities was like. I’d become comfortable in Renata. Complacent maybe. People didn’t normally part or jump back when I walked by anymore, but this morning had been different as I strode up to Tinsley’s barrel. Humans with their wispy silk plastered to their foreheads glanced away after quick nods or tight smiles of greeting that didn’t make it to their eyes. The relatively fewer men nudged their female friends to the outskirts of my path.

One man looked me up and down with his arms crossed in that bipedal posture meant to challenge, then turned back to his conversation. I huffed against his neck and clicked my teeth together, delighting in the way the fur stood on the back of his neck. His shoulders shot upwards out of protective instinct, and I walked on with an ear twitch of bitter amusement. I was in a bad mood because my especially fragile pet was missing, and I wanted answers. I wasn’t going to tolerate a dick measuring contest.

I would always, always win.

“What’s up, buttercup?” Tinsley asked as I drew near. She waved a purple stick topped with a human star shape around my snout until it crinkled up. I snarled at her, but she just waggled her brows at me.

“Jihae. Where is she?”

“Ah, so that’s what the resting bitch face is for.” She tapped her button nose and popped her lips together. “Haven’t seen her yet. See? Levicart.”

I followed the length of her stick, finding the cart was indeed still full of decorations. More decaying limbs, and a new collection of bones. I stared at the holes in the center of a skull’s face, wondering where the hell the human snout was. Was that protrusion not a bone like mine? I’d never eaten a human, so—

My stomach growled.

“She’s probably sleeping in.”

That got my attention. My ears swiveled towards Tinsley with skepticism.

“Impossible. She’s too… squeaky. Squeaky things don’t sleep in. It makes them nervous.”

The corner of the little sprite’s mouth quirked. “Maybe she’s having an off day then.”

I screwed up my snout at Hunar’s priya. Did an off day mean a holiday or a bad day? Fuck Black Clack translations.

I took my RBF and left in a huff. Jihae didn’t sleep in. I hadn’t known her long, but we’d been working on the trail for a few days. She was always there at the tail end of my patrol, listening to music as she stretched her limbs unironically and unloaded the cart. I’d made a point of announcing myself fashionably late after watching from the shadows, the fog clinging to my thick, damp fur. She never knew I was there, licking my chops and staring at—

The, uh, grinning gourds. Very tasty.

My stomach rumbled as I paced in front of the home towers and my foul mood deepened. I sat, inhaling deep lungfuls of air, searching for her scent.

I knew which home tower she lived in. Of course I did. I’d never stepped claw inside any of them, but I knew where every pup in the colony slept. If anything ever took the towers down—a fire, an attack, whatever—I knew exactly which balconies to evacuate first.

And Jihae lived with one such pup. A young girl with the same straight black silk. She kept the balcony open most nights, their scents spilling out into the stillness. The first time we’d ever greeted each other as she left the school pod was because I looked in Jihae's direction, recognizing her scent on the breeze.

Grumbling, snagging my mouth claws on my throat teeth, I stared at her unit. It was to the left, several stories up. A gaggle of humans stepped out of the entrance and skirted around me as I glared at it, willing her to come down.

Maybe I should comm…

Pah. I never commed anyone. It was a waste of my downtime. If someone needed me, they’d find me. Or not, and that was even better. I thwapped my tail on the ground with impatience and began panting.

My ear swiveled as gravel crunched under a nearby foot, then a wall of flesh pressed into my shoulder. I blinked in alarm, cocking my head sideways. Jihae’s tousled silk was smashed into my fur, twiggy arms hanging lifeless at her sides. She pressed her entire weight into me, spicy, earthy skin oozing an alcohol sweat.

“Chukgetta…” she groaned. I breathed in the back of her neck, then expelled it with a petulant huff.

“Takes guts to attack a bilong like this, morsel,” I griped, stock still for fear of her falling over if I moved. My eyes dilated and locked on the pulse in her throat. I swallowed down a pint of saliva.

“I drank too much last night.”

“Hot date?” I purred, licking my teeth into alignment. My claws dug grooves into the footpath like it was butter. Why was I so hungry? I’d eaten an entire engine block before heading to the haunted trail. And why did she look like the best fucking breakf—

“Tch,” she sneered, rolling her face against me like she was rubbing her oils into my fur. My skin prickled beneath her as if I'd broken out into a sweat.

“My friend, Siobhan. She’s another teacher. I’m so sorry I’m late, Sizzle. I was going to comm you, but I don’t have your contact.”

I requested her commlink and sent her mine without a thought, fur puffing up. A curious swoop dipped through my abdomen at the thought of having hers. She showed up at the bottom of a very short list, and I shuffled her to the top, booting Vin and Traveller down a peg.

“Thanks,” Jihae said, her groggy croak muffled by my fluffed-up hackles.

It was definitely a good thing that she’d been late. With her body leaning against my side, I felt every fluttery heartbeat, swallow, and rumble of her digestive system. Her delicious symphony made me salivate. I was ready to lick the sweat off her skin from her fingertips to her ears, and maybe steal an arm for a snack.

It disturbed me how delicious she looked.

I curled my foreclaw around her shoulder, one sinful digit at a time…

And swung her back towards her home tower.

“No work, no problem. You deserve a staycation. Isn’t that what they say about teachers?” I rambled, hissing steam through my draconic, slitted nostrils. “So back into the unit with you. Meds. Sleep. Shedding. Whatever humans do when they’re sick.”

“I’m not sick, I'm—Wait, shedding?”

I pulled a clump of undercoat from my scruff and handed the red and pink fur to her as I marched her up to the entrance. She took it in a shaking palm and I squinted, licking one eyeball.

“Did you eat breakfast?” I asked, my stomach-minded focus changing targets.

She clutched the fur to her chest. “I brought a nutrient bar, water, and an iced—”

“No. You’re going to eat something hardy.”

And I was going to watch her. I didn’t trust her to feed herself as far as I could throw her… Or as far as she could throw me. I could probably throw her the length of the playfield. Like a bag full of beans. Or a tin can full of bolts.

My stomach growled again.

This was a terrible idea.

But I waved my security chip over the access panel anyway and the door slid open.

“Up you go. I’ll meet you.”

Holding the tuft of fur in her palms with a quirk between her brows, she stepped into the lift, and I stalked around the side of the home tower. I looked at the first balcony several floors beneath hers, gauging the distance with my face extended towards the sky. I rose onto my hind legs and reached upwards, feeling the stretch of abdominal muscles I hadn’t stretched in too long.

The height was just right.

I lowered into a crouch on my haunches, then jumped, stretching my claws for the top of the balcony rail rather than the bottom. My feet gripped the slab and I jumped off again. I ran up the vertical railings like I was sprinting across a field on a fine spring morning, the metal vibrating with each thrust of my hindquarters towards Jihae’s unit. A human in one of the adjacent homes gasped and slammed her sliding door shut.

I alighted on Jihae’s balcony like a bird, curled over my feet along the top rail, one claw grasping the ceiling over my head to keep from swaying. Predictably, her balcony was open, welcoming in the dripping weather, leaking her nest’s uniquely spicy scent.

I took a deep breath, filling my lungs to the brim, and groaned. My fur stood on end all the way down my spine, each follicle tingling with the sensation of fullness her home unit’s smell gave me. My stomach settled as I hummed.

The front door slid open and Jihae trudged in, gripping the back of her neck. She stopped in her tracks, staring at me with wide eyes.

“Wow,” she breathed as the wind above the jungle buffeted my shoulders. The cloud cover was starting to break with the rising heat of the day, casting rays of light through my black and red fur, piercing the corner of my vision. I leaned my head into the common room to shield my eyes from the sun.

“Enough chit chat. Time to follow instructions,” I simmered, showing off all my throat teeth in a full grin.

“I know how to use the food bays. I eat fine.”

I leaned in further, strumming my vocal cords with a bass chuckle.

“Prove it. Print a hytap.”

“A what?”

“Hangover cure. Hytap.”

“Oh.” The cheeky woman raised her brow, intrigued, then turned away to peruse the food bay’s menu. “Hytap, hytap… Would you like to come in? Or do you prefer staying outside?”

“Hmm…” I examined the doorway, rolling one shoulder into the room, then the other. I slinked, thinking long thoughts, folding my radial hip joints together until they squeezed my bladder uncomfortably. But I made a spectacular landing, sprawled out on the floor in what the humans called a “sploot” without breaking a single pane of glass or knocking over the shelves. I rolled my muzzle to the side to check if anything was above my head and brushed past a pillow that smelled so strongly of my delicious host, I almost swiped it into my mouth. But she was watching me with that little smile on her face. The one that was both achingly sweet and spicy.

“Impressive dance,” she jabbed, setting her hytap on the counter. “Done. Happy?”

“What would you have eaten if you hadn’t woken up late?”

“Ramyun. Spicy noodles with an egg,” she said and swallowed with a dreamy sigh. “I wish I had a tin pot…”

I licked my major fangs, tail swishing once with excitement. I had a tin pot in my scrapyard.

“Print your food, morsel, then try the hytap.”

Jihae programmed the food bay as I hauled myself very slowly to my haunches, the tops of my tall ears brushing the ceiling. She sniffed the hangover cure Vin used to live off of and shrugged.

“Gombae,” she said in her mother tongue, then tossed the entire shot back. A full-body shiver wracked her shoulders as she slammed the cup down on the counter with her eyes pinched shut.

I glanced at the pillow discarded on the floor. The one that smelled of Jihae’s spices. The butter she put on her lips from time to time, her soap, her palms. She hugged this pillow often while sitting on the floor with a nearby blanket.

My tongue shot out while she fought the sour drink and yanked the pillow into my open maw. My throat teeth and mouth claws captured their fluffy prey, compressing the air out of it like a rolling pin as my muscles flattened the stuffing.

“Whew, ugh!” Jihae coughed, waving her hand in front of her mouth. “Oh my god, that’s awful!”

“Mhm.” I licked the top of my muzzle innocently while I waited for her pillow to make its way through my throat. She opened her eyes, working the tingle out of her mouth in big facial stretches that showed me her tongue and molars, the dainty opening to her throat at the back of her jaw, that luscious red glisten… She swallowed and the cartilaginous sound traveled all the way down her throat.

“Does it always taste that bad?” she asked. I still couldn’t mutter more than a grunt, so I blinked my big round eyes at her and tilted my head.

Bing.

Saved by the food bay.

Jihae turned towards the sound, setting her food on the human-style table with four legs and a flat, square surface. The pillow finally moved past my airway, so I army crawled towards the table, sniffing the aroma.

“You eat this often,” I observed, recognizing the scent as one of the things that defined her home unit’s unique flavor.

Jihae sat down across from where I rested my massive head on the table.

“Yeah… Instant noodles are the staple diet of single people where I come from. Do you want to try them?”

I squinted at them, my nose wriggling as I mulled over the scent. “I like the metallic tang, but no. Perhaps your bowl and bident afterwards.”

“Something to drink?”

“Unless you have battery acid, no thank you.” It would help clear the pillow now making me feel bloated. Anything else would only help the damn thing expand.

Jihae hefted more noodles than should be able to fit in that tiny mouth onto her bident and inhaled them with an impressive amount of force. They disappeared into her mouth and her cheeks bowed out.

“So you don’t eat food at all?” she asked after swallowing.

“Everything is food to me.” My mouth claws clicked quietly beneath the table, cleaning my fur from between my teeth, caught now from the large bite I’d just taken. Jihae noticed, staring at the tabletop. She slurped at some of her broth with a spoon, then swished it around.

“Am I food too?”

My eyes dilated. I stopped blinking, taking in her features to the most minute detail.

“Why do you ask?”

“You call me morsel.”

I grinned, showing her my major fangs, each one about as long as her fingers. She inhaled more noodles, staring at them, but no fearful tang disturbed her scent. A malicious sort of pride bubbled out of me in a chuckle. Even though the shilpakaari scared her, she wasn’t afraid of me. Not anymore. Enclosed, alone, in her nest…

“You certainly could be,” I teased. “But I don’t like the taste of rendered flesh. Too…” I waved my claw in a circle, looking for the right word. “Jiggly.”

Jihae laughed into her food, noodles tumbling off her bident.

“So weird,” she chided.

“Don’t get me wrong, morsel…”

I crept a paw onto the counter and dragged her empty hytap cup towards me, tipping it upside down onto the point of one claw. The remnants of the drink slithered down my long finger. She paused eating and watched as my long, black tongue wrapped around the digit, lifting the cup. I filled the interior with it, enjoying the sour burn mixed with traces of her saliva along the rim. Then folded the entire thing into my mouth with a crunch.

“I like how you taste.”

Jihae’s cheeks exploded with red heat.

A different note colored her scent then. Something mouthwatering and base. My throat tightened with thirst as she shoveled the rest of her meal into her mouth in record time and pushed it my way.

“Eat, and I’ll clean up.”

She stood with a clatter of chair legs and hurried down the hallway, out of reach.

Which was good, because I nearly gave chase.

Instead, I dipped my snout into the dregs of her spicy noodles, licked the bowl clean, then paid particular attention to the utensils, which were rich with her oils. I tucked the spoon away in my cheek, then stared down the hallway, panting.

That scent…

Even though I’d stapled my eyes to her bedroom down the hallway with its fluffy white blankets and walls covered in plas snap prints, my nose had other ideas. It swiveled towards her chair, leading my face into the seat. I slipped my tongue out of my throat—as if she was less likely to see it than if it came from my muzzle—and licked where she’d sat.

The warmth of her pussy was still there. The same flavor as was in my nose. Taunting me. Fuck, I’d never felt so hungry in my life. Drool slipped off my teeth as I snarled to myself, repeating the mantra, pup lives here, pup lives here, trying to cool down the persistent, swollen tingle in my groin. A tingle that tickled my nose as well. I sneezed, and my eyes landed on the paused holoscreen across from the couch.

Over the past several nights when I’d patrolled near the home towers—and was definitely not specifically searching out Jihae’s balcony—I’d heard growls, screams, and gunfire. The sound was too tinny and flat to be a real threat, so I’d assumed it was some form of human entertainment. They were much more violent as a species than the others gave them credit for.

And on Jihae’s holoscreen was the proof. She’d paused her vid on an ornate structure built of many tree beams painted in geometric patterns of green and red, accentuated with white, yellow, blue, and black. Though the focus of the scene was a decaying corpse—a type of creature called a tzambi which the humans assured us was not a real possibility—my eyes were stuck on the building. It mesmerized me, and my claws traced the patterns in her floor while I licked my teeth of the taste of her pussy pressed against cloth and plas.

“What is this vid of, morsel?” I called, ear swiveling towards her sounds in the bathroom.

“Oh! That’s a K’riyan horror movie. It’s about a prince that gets infected by a dead man’s blood as part of a curse on his evil family.” Her voice took on a spooky warble as something clattered to the ground. She cursed under her breath. “Do you like horror movies?”

I licked my eyeball. “What is K’riyan?”

“It’s what I am. Where I’m from.” She appeared in the hallway, blotting her face with a towel. She glanced at the holoscreen. “That’s one of our palaces in the background.” She sighed, drying her hands, staring wistfully at the screen.

“You miss it.”

She blinked away and stuffed her shaking hands in her pockets. “The palaces are tourist attractions now. I only went once in middle school. But yeah, I miss home. My city had thousands of years of history in it. Here everything is just… new and unsubstantial.”

I grunted, not understanding but willing to accept that she felt that way. Bilongs didn’t build cities or libraries or palaces. We had no governments or institutions. The only pride I had was in myself. I was a very pretty beast with a very long kill count any mother would be proud of.

But looking at Jihae’s painted buildings, I felt something. I tilted my head as the roof beams burned their way into my memory. I winked and my bionic implant recorded a snap of her holoscreen.

“Thanks for eating breakfast with me. I feel much better. Meet you outside?” she asked. She looked leagues healthier now that she’d eaten. I licked my teeth, her dishware and pillow sitting comfortably in my stomach.

I was feeling covetous, looking her up and down as she shoved her little feet into her little boots. But at least I wasn’t as hungry. Rather than eating her, now all I wanted was her attention.

“You take the long way. I’ll take the shortcut.” Then I lowered my head to chuck her chin with a wink, not recording this time, though I was tempted. “Unless you want to take the shortcut with me.”

“What?” She laughed, assuming I was joking, and picked up her bag. “Babo. See you downstairs!”

Oh well, worth a shot.